Last Minute Teacher Gift

My son finished up third grade last week, and in normal fashion, I waited to the last minute to make his teacher a gift!  I had decided earlier in the week that I would make her an embroidered zipper pouch, but with all the extra activities at school and Ella's dance class during the week, I just didn't make the time to get it done before the last day of school!

So, on the morning of my son's last half day, I cut out a piece of duck cloth and set up my embroidery machine to stitch out this cute bird in a nest of leaves design.  The design is from Hang to Dry.  I purchased it a few weeks ago when they had a sale.  I'm finding that I enjoy embroidery designs much better than applique designs.  I get a little frustrated with all the stopping and starting and removing the hoop from my machine for applique work.

Anyway, I had not tested out this design before, so it was a make it work no matter what kind of moment!  The design stitched out pretty good, but because it jumps from leaf to leaf so quickly, I didn't stop each time to trim the threads and instead waited until it was finished to do all the trimming.  Well, as you can see, that made it difficult in some spots to get a close snip, and some of the threads frayed or fuzzed up on the ends as a result.  Also, some of the outline stitching was off from the fill.  All in all I really like the design and will use it again.

I then used a piece of Amy Butler's Lark Floral Couture in Berry for the lining paired with a pink zipper and a matching zipper pull.  Project complete!

Ella and I were able to leave the house with enough time to run by the store and purchase a gift card to The Cheesecake Factory to go inside the pouch.  When we got to the school, Connor was already outside waiting, so we ran back in to find his teacher.  He gave her the gift and she loved it!  Whew!  Next year, I hope I don't wait to the very last minute to make the teacher gift, but I'm glad I finished this one in the nick of time.  Mrs. Fields was a wonderful teacher and my son loved her class!

Now it's on to the fourth grade--already!  Hope you have a great summer!